Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-06-15
A COIL OF WIRE.
How IT Is Made from What IL Techni-
cally Known - . "BIoom."


cal1y Known ~ 0"BloOm."
Especial Corr-spondence.1
PITTsBURG, June 6.
How are large cakes or Jumps Of steel
made into fine wire? The process is interest
ing. How do the steel blooms become finely
polished wire? The manufacture is peculiar
The bloom, as we follow it in the wire fac
tory is first cut into billets some twenty
inches long and four inches square, These
are brought red hot from the furnaces and
slipped between the rolls. In a moment the
billet of steel becomes stout, fbery ser
pent man at the opposite side of the roll
nlps 1T around the neck with his tongs, and
slips its head between the next and smaller
pair of rolls, so that before the tail of the red
serpent has emerged from between the larger
rolls, the head has been squeezed to smaller
dimensions in the second rolls. The same
process is repeated again after the rod has
passed through the second roll, a workman
being ready to seize the serpent, twist its
body around and let its head be caught by
the third roll Thus it is passed on, each
lime becoming longer and thinner, and the
illet, after passing through eighteen rolls, be-
comes a wire rod.
AS the rod passes through the last roll it is
conveyed through a pipe three inches in
circumference. AS it wriggles out of The
ron floor of the factory or wire mill The
rolls are kept constantly at work, for one rod
has no sooner passed through the first roll
5han another enters it, and as the rod grows
II length one end may be passing out across
The floor while the other is half dozen rolls
II the rear. Thus it twists its dull red tn cad
ike length like a serpent in and out of the
rolls, often near the ankles of the workmen
ready with their tongs to guide it onward In
is devious windings. When the rod is at
last spun out upon the floor, the end is taken
up and twisted upon a reel, which rapidly
winds it into coil.
After the rods leave the "bloominp millr
hey are taken to the "wire MILL" where they
are hung around wooden blocks perhaps half
dozen coils on each block, which are lowered
| into huge tubs of liquid sulphuric acid, and
| allowed to remain there until the acid has re-
| moved the impurities from the surface. The
blocks are then raised by pulley, and the
rods are thrown upon the floor and washed
| with the hose. Having been loaded on trucks
and dried, one end of each rod is pointed by n
revolving machine so as to pass into the die
which Is to draw the rod into wire Having
| been removed to the wire blocks, the rods are
:hen drawn by being passed through a taper
ing hole in q steel die
The steel rod, having thus been transformed
| INTO wire, Is taken to the annealng furnace.
| ,.N'.I yri i'e'ieu anu poiisheu by a secret
process: The wire, which has hitherto beer
OF duh brown color, is given a bright polish
oy the annealing and the cleaning which i,
afterward receives. Having been removed
70 the galvanizng house the wire is run over
series of wheels and slides which stretch il
from the floor horizontally, and. working
automatically, dips the wire in lime every
time 1t reaches the floor. In galvanizpg the
process consists of the wire passing through a
spiutioh OF muriatic acid and gravel, next
through a drying furnace, and afterward
through a metal bath of zinc The wire mex,
passes "wiping box" filed with minerp
wool which is agitated by a number of rollers
ms substance wipes off the surplus zinc ana
bestows upon the wire a smooth surface. The
long line of wire, which now has a bright
sllvery appearance, is then bundled up in reels
ready for the market, each reel weighing
aoout IoV pounds. W. NJ C.